Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a housing for a coupling configuration for injecting or extracting optical signals of at least one optical data channel into or from an optical conductor, and to a coupling configuration with a corresponding housing.
Wavelength-division multiplex methods are known in which light signals of several wavelengths are transmitted simultaneously on one optical fiber. The injection or extraction of the signals of several wavelengths or optical data channels into or from an optical fiber is performed in electrooptic modules with the aid of a plurality of transmitting and/or receiving components, the signals of the individual wavelengths being combined or separated in the modules.
Published, European Patent EP 238 977 A, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,171, discloses an electrooptic transmitting and receiving module for a bidirectional communication network in the case of which there are disposed at a spacing from one another between a laser diode and an optical fiber end spherical lenses that focus the laser light onto the fiber end. Disposed between the spherical lenses for the purpose of wavelength separation is a wavelength-selective beam splitter that separates from the beam path light emitted from the fiber end and having a wavelength different from the wavelength of the laser light, and feeds it to a detector or receiving component.
It is disadvantageous of the known module that the light is led through large free-beam regions. Thus, the lenses used operate refractively, that is to say the refractive power acts only at the interface between lens and air. The occurrence of free-beam regions requires a hermetic encapsulation of the module in order to prevent instances of condensation in the free-beam region. Furthermore, the known module must be very stable mechanically and insensitive to temperature fluctuations, in order to ensure reliable injection of the laser light into the optical fiber. It is customary to use metal housings to which the individual subcomponents are welded. The outlay on production and adjustment is relatively high.
International Patent Disclosure WO 96/00915, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,171, discloses a module for multiplexing/demultiplexing optical signals that forms on a substrate a phased-array grating that is used both for separating and for combining a plurality of optical channels. The waveguides are constructed as integrated optical waveguides in glass on silicon. It is disadvantageous of this configuration that the transmitting and receiving components must be mounted uncapped on or at the substrate. Again, the substrates are relatively large, since the waveguides must be guided with large radii and are therefore expensive. A further problem consists in that there is a need for special configurations in order to couple external optical conductors to the substrate with the required precision.